Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2018;229(8):272.
doi: 10.1007/s11270-018-3899-6. Epub 2018 Aug 6.

Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Sediments of the River Pra and Its Tributaries

Albert Ebo Duncan  1 , Nanne de Vries  1 , Kwabena Biritwum Nyarko  2
Affiliations

Assessment of Heavy Metal Pollution in the Sediments of the River Pra and Its Tributaries

Albert Ebo Duncan et al. Water Air Soil Pollut. 2018.

Abstract

An investigative study was conducted to determine the heavy metal pollution in the sediment in the Pra Basin of Ghana from 27 sampling points during the dry and wet seasons using the geo-accumulation index (Igeo), enrichment factor (EF), and pollution load index (PLI). Sediments were acid digested and analyzed for the following selected metals: arsenic (As), lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), zinc (Zn), manganese (Mn), total chromium (Cr), nickel (Ni), and iron (Fe) using the dual atomizer and hydride generator atomic absorption spectrophotometer (model ASC-7000 No A309654, Shimadzu, Japan). The metal concentrations (mg kg-1) in the sediments were as follows: As (0.175) < Cd (3.206) < Ni (79.927) < Zn (118.323) < Cr (216.708) < Mn (234.742) < Pb (335.381) < Fe (1354.513) in the dry season and As (0.002) < Cd (7.279) < Ni (72.663) < Zn (35.622) < Pb (135.863) < Cr (167.604) < Mn (183.904) < Fe (1138.551) for the wet season. The EF which is an indication of whether metal concentrations are due to anthropogenic activities shows enrichment at all site for the metals Cr, Pb, and Cd in the wet seasons. However, only 4 out of the 27 sites showed Ni enrichment in the wet season. Contrary to the wet season, only Pb and Cr recorded enrichment at all sites during the dry season. Fifteen out of the 27 sites recorded Cd enrichment and 24 out of the 27 sites recorded Ni enriched during the dry season. None of the sites were enriched with Fe, As, Zn, and Mn in either the dry or wet seasons. For both dry and wet seasons, the pollution load index for all the sites except one was at the background levels which is a sign of non-deterioration of the sites studied. In the wet season, the calculated Igeo reveals that the study area is not contaminated with respect to As, Zn, Fe, and Mn; uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with Cd; moderately contaminated with Cr; uncontaminated to moderately to heavily contaminated with Ni; and moderately to heavily contaminated with Pb. The dry season Igeo results reveal non-contamination of the study area with respect to As, Fe, and Mn; uncontaminated to moderately contaminated with Zn; moderately contaminated with Cr; uncontaminated to heavily contaminated with Cd; uncontaminated to extremely contaminated with Ni; and moderately to extremely contaminated with Pb. The high levels of Cd, Pb, and Cr in all the sites are due to unregulated illegal mining activities occurring in and around the study area. It is hoped that this study will prompt the basin management board to improve their management strategies in controlling unregulated illegal mining in the basin sediments.

Keywords: Ghana; Heavy metal; Illegal mining; Pollution; Pra River; Sediments.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Map of Pra Basin
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Abdel-Ghani NT, Elchaghaby GA. Influence of operating conditions on the removal of Cu, Zn, Cd and Pb ions from wastewater by adsorption. International journal of Environmental Science and Technology. 2007;4:451–456. doi: 10.1007/BF03325980. - DOI
    1. Ali MM, Ali ML, Islam MDS, Rahman MDZ. Preliminary assessment of heavy metals in water and sediment of Karnaphuli River, Bangladesh. Environmental Nanotechnology, Monitoring & Management. 2016;5:27–35. doi: 10.1016/j.enmm.2016.01.002. - DOI
    1. Atkinson CA, Jolley DF, Simpson SL. Effect of overlying water pH, dissolved oxygen, salinity and sediment disturbances on metal release and sequestration from contaminated marine sediments. Chemosphere. 2007;69(9):1428–1437. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2007.04.068. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Haiyan L., Anbang, S., Mingyi, L., Xiaoran, Z. (2013). Effect of pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, and flow rate of overlying water on heavy metals release from storm sewer sediments. Journal of Chemistry, 2013, 104316. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Islam MS, Ahmed MK, Raknuzzaman M, Habibullah-Al-Mamun M, Islam MK. Heavy metal pollution in surface water and sediment: a preliminary assessment of an urban river in a developing country. Ecological Indicators. 2015;48:282–291. doi: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2014.08.016. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources